Improvement in the bonding strength of laminated composites by using air‐textured core‐and‐effect glass yarns

Abstract Delamination is the most common failure mode in laminated composites due to the reduced strength in the through‐the‐thickness direction. Air‐jet texturing was used to produce bulk and loops in the yarn, which provides more surface contact between the fibers and the resin. The development of core‐and‐effect textured glass yarns and the effect of texturing parameters were presented in the previous article. This article describes the effect of texturing on the mechanical properties including tensile properties, flexure properties, interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) and fracture toughness (Mode I) of glass laminated composites. The composites of plain and twill weave fabrics were developed from both the textured and nontextured yarns. It was observed that the tensile properties decreased and the flexure properties remained unchanged after texturing. However, significant improvement was observed in ILSS and the Mode I fracture toughness of the composites after texturing. The bulkier, loopy structure of the textured yarn provided more surface contact between the fiber and the resin and significantly improved the bonding strength. POLYM. COMPOS., 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers